When a building or structure is being built during construction, one of the most fundamentally important steps is the prepping and constructing of the layout of the structure. This process is commonly referred to as framing. Typically all interior and exterior walls are framed with at least one horizontal header and one horizontal footer with a plurality of vertically situated studs spaced therebetween. The wall material, typically drywall or gypsum is placed on interior framed walls, whereas siding and roofing of various materials are placed on the exterior walls.
In framing a structure, both wood and metal studs can be used, however, in most residential buildings, wood is the most frequently used framing material. The framing materials are typically 2×4 and 2×6 pieces of lumber. As opposed to their common naming, the actual dimensions of such pieces of lumber are 1.5×3.5 inches and 1.5×5.5 inches respectively. Such dimensions must be taken into account when framing a structure as to provide proper spacing between studs and at the correct point along the footers and headers.
A carpenter, or other worker, will mark the pieces of wood to be used in the framing for the structure. These marks are usually positioned with the guidance from a measuring tape and a general standard placement of the studs on 16″ centers and in rarer occasions 24″ centers. The framing is then typically assembled on the ground and lifted into position or alternatively positioning the headers and footers and then placing the studs therebetween.
Problems with the aforementioned methodology can begin to arise when the wood or lumber is being marked. The measuring tape being used may slip, unbeknownst to the worker, or other human error may both result in improper marking along the wood. Once a mistake happens, it is often only caught late in the process, once the framed wall is at least partially assembled, thereby requiring the work to be redone with the proper measurement and costing the company or other entity time and resources. Additionally, the process can be slow as the headers and footers are often individually marked. In many structures, this requires many calculations and speed efficiency thereby increasing the chance of an error being made.
Thus, there is a need for a process for marking materials used in framing quickly and expeditiously. Further, it is imperative that such a process removes or limits the occurrence of human error associated with slippages or miscalculations. The present invention and its embodiments meet and exceed these objectives.